ICANN, a Marina Del Rey, Calif.-based non-profit which controls the Internet domain naming system, has up until now been squarely under the jurisdiction of Commerce. Although most companies register their domains through companies such as the privately held VeriSign, which holds the contract with ICANN to operate the .com registry, ICANN, and by default Commerce, is responsible for promulgating the rules that govern the Internet.
The battle over who controls the Internet recently came to a boiling point in May when the European Commission criticized U.S. officials for “political interference” in the death of .XXX, the failed top-level-domain for adult websites.
Bowing to international pressure, the U.S. government has mandated that Commerce cede control of ICANN and privatize the entity by September.
While foreign countries are free to establish their own domain name system (DNS) through what are known as “root servers,” universality has been cornerstone of the Internet since its creation, according to Steve DelBianco, director of Washington-based policy group The NetChoice Coalition.
"The incentive for the U.S. to privatize ICANN is to keep the Internet on one DNS to avoid multiple systems — much like the multiple phone systems we have around the world," DelBianco said.
DelBianco said that he supports the idea of a privately run ICANN in the long term. However, he believes that the U.S. should maintain control of ICANN for at least two more years until the entity is capable of operating with full independence.
"ICANN needs to be as strong as it can be to resist foreign governments," he said.
According to a Commerce statement, the department scheduled the hearings to consider “the progress of the transition” of ICANN to the private sector.
